6th EPIPHANY
the Rev. Ken Kroohs
(2nd
Kings 5:1-4; Ps. 30; I Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45)
St. Christopher’s, High
Point, NC
MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF
ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU ___ OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN
There are some fascinating things about our scripture but let me
begin by setting the stage. The word
“leprosy” was used to describe a wide variety of skin conditions. Some were very serious, such as leprosy as
we now know it.
In Israel the leper was cut off from society. We do not know what the practice was in
Aram. In Israel anyone who was called a
leper was required to dress in a distinctive way, generally to wear a cow bell
around their neck to warn people and even to cry out “leper” as they walked
down the street. The survived by food
and water left outside.
It sounds, and was, terrible.
But notice something, in a society that knows nothing about germs or
viruses or exactly how conditions are transmitted – they are following what is
the correct path to avoid an epidemic.
The medical teachings in Leviticus – which we tend to laugh at –
actually are the correct teachings for this society.
Even the instruction to go to show yourself to the priest –
there is a long process to be declared clean.
We would say they are being careful the apparent cure is not simply a
temporary remission. The teachings go
so far as to instruct that all the person’s hair shall be shaved off, the
person checked, and then checked again a week later to insure the disease was
not hiding.
Some people will say all this is simply based on smart people
observing what happens and then writing instructions to avoid the worst
conditions. Maybe. I believe we see God in action, possibly
from behind the scenes, helping the people survive.
All that said, the real important link between the Old Testament
story and the gospel was not leprosy – the disease is simply the mechanism used
to illustrate some points. The
connection between the two is interesting and illustrates why it is so good ...
most the time ... to have a lectionary - a set of readings someone has taken
years to determine work together. I
would never have thought to put these two passages on the same Sunday. And yet, they work so well.
Let’s begin with the gospel.
I suggest that this gospel illustrates why so many people doubt God and
even are angry - furious at God. “If
you choose Lord ... “
When government agencies are sued one of the most common charges
is that the agency’s actions were “arbitrary and capacious” ... that the agency
helped or hurt someone on a whim. That
seems to be what Jesus is doing ... at least that is how it sounds.
Even if we allow for the fact that the leper is taking a big
chance approaching Jesus since getting that close to a healthy person was a
major crime. Very possibly the leper
could have been killed for approaching someone in violation of the law.
Even if we allow for that and say that Jesus acted for the person
who took that chance — it still sounds somewhat arbitrary especially with
Jesus’ response. If Jesus had said:
“Your faith has cured you” as He does many other times .... or if Jesus had said: “I will cure any who
approach me.” we could then feel more comfortable.
But the way this is told it sounds as if Jesus is going “ennie
meanie minie moe” ... and if you have ever been in a situation where your
prayers ... your pleas ... your requests to Jesus were NOT answered ... when,
apparently, Jesus did not CHOOSE to cure ... if you have been in that situation
this sounds at best arbitrary and at worst – mean and uncaring.
It is very possibly other lepers were standing nearby since
lepers could only associate with other lepers.
What would they think when this one went away cured and they were left
still sick? Would they respect and
worship Jesus? Or would they see Him as
a mean spirited person?
We have a parallel story in the Old Testament which raises
similar questions. Apparently Aram was
a fairly strong army so the king of Israel is seeing this as a set-up to give
them a reason to invade Israel.
I do notice there is absolutely no indication the king sent back
the “gifts” – the bribes – the payments.
A very large payment.
And there certainly is no indication the king gave that wealth to
Elisha who actually solved the problem!
And yet, this can be seen as another case of some people being cured and
some not. Rather than arbitrary and
capacious, we have the apparent situation that those willing to give the
authorities enough of a bribe - or payment will be cured. No reason not to assume there were many
lepers in Israel and yet they were not cured in this manner.
There is another parallel although a more positive one. Both the unnamed leper and Naaman did
something basically simple and were cured.
The leper approached Jesus and asked to be cured and Naaman obeyed some
simple instructions.
That said we do seem to be seeing an arbitrary God who reacts to
bribes. ..... OK, that’s about a deep a hole as I can dig myself into! Let’s see if I can climb back out.
The gospel is actually a bit easier to work with. Jesus never said “I choose only to heal you
and leave those other lepers alone.” In
fact, the gospel concludes that so many people approached Jesus for miracles,
and in other places tell us He did cure those who approached Him, so many
people did approach Him that He had to go away from the villages.
Remember that Jesus keeps telling people NOT to spread the news
about the miracles. Jesus tells them
NOT to proclaim Him the messiah and send all these people for cures. And most likely that was to avoid this
precise situation – that so many people came for cures but not the teachings.
And those human beings, so much like us, proved Jesus right. Remember later in Jesus’ ministry there are
a couple times when it says that everyone but the 12 left Jesus. The authorities started pushing back on
Jesus and all those followers left Him.
Possibly this particular leper was no where around when that happened
so we won’t pick specifically on him.
But – so many other people were cured of leprosy, blindness, deafness,
etc. etc. and they took what Jesus offered ----- and left. They took the miracle and ignored the
teaching. The took the body change but
not the life change.
No wonder Jesus wanted to focus on the teachings rather than the
miracles.
Naaman’s story is similar in a way. He brings all that money but Elisha never gets it. Naaman and his king THOUGHT they had to
bribe God, but that was not what mattered.
What matters is our willingness to trust God. Our willingness to choose God — to make that
choice. It is important to remember
that this leper later died. All the
people Jesus cured - later died. It is
not about eternal life in this world — it is about health and happiness in this
world and eternal life in the next.
Notice how carefully I tried to say Jesus “cured” them rather than “healed them” even though you will read “healed them” in most Bibles. This is not a translation issue but modern semantics. For reasons we do not understand, God does not always provide a “cure” – the condition or disease does not always go away. But God will always provide a “healing” – a healing of our spirit. Everyone we pray for will eventually die. And, if we love that person there will be sadness over that loss ... our loss. But God can help us heal from that sadness and continue in this life with joy and happiness ... if we so choose.
Notice that the choice we have to make is not depression versus
happiness. It is not illness verses
health. Those would be easy choices to
make. No, the choice is God or not God. The choice is trusting and obeying God or
not. The choice the one Naaman had to
make — do what you are instructed or not.
In Naaman’s story we see the great turn around Jesus and Paul
speak about ... the poor and lowly will know God best. His servants come to him and remind him that
he would do anything difficult, so why do not do something simple? You know Naaman washed in Jordan simply to
prove the servants wrong! Naaman went
to the Jordan simply to show it would not work. It was those with little power in this world who knew to trust
God.
...... There is a lesson there.
How often we turn to God only when we have no other choice — like the
leper. Rather than turning toward God
for all our lives we wait until we are desperate.
Let me suggest one lesson from these passage is that God has more
to offer us than we take advantage of.
God offers us — not always a cure but always a healing. God does not always offer us a smooth life
path but always a peaceful and joyful life path. God does not always offer us wealth and power but always
happiness.
Wash 7 times in Jordan ... trust God ... we would do the
difficult things, why not the simple ones?
AMEN
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CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)